


Safer Waters

by tisfan



Series: Imagine Tony and Bucky 2016/2017 [35]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes's Trigger Words, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Mild Gore, Pre-Slash, cuttlemer Tony, mermaid au, mershark Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-31
Updated: 2017-10-31
Packaged: 2019-01-25 03:47:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12522284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tisfan/pseuds/tisfan
Summary: Tony is good with man-things.Hydra has uses for a cuttlemer who is good with tools.And Bucky has no use for Hydra





	Safer Waters

**Author's Note:**

> consentacles with cuttlefish merman Tony and shark merman Bucky.
> 
> For this prompt

“No, no,” Tony said, prying at the hatch with two hands and a couple of tentacles. “We can fix this. No need to fret.” He was a little shivery and his mantle fins fluttered with nerves. Bioluminescent glow scattered light everywhere but where he wanted it. With a twist of determination, he spread his mantle, letting the blue glow illuminate the area.

“You’re supposed to be the best with this human shit,” the mer-orca -- Rumlow? Tony thought that was his name -- spat. His razor teeth glinted blue in the dim lighting. “Hurry it along.”

The other half dozen or so mer-sharks that circled, looking to Rumlow for leadership, laughed, the sounds echoing around like an evil tide. Of course they knew Tony was the best with human stuff. He had a human-thing that kept him alive, didn’t he? Which is how they’d found him. Mer-sharks sensed their prey by electrical impulses, and Tony’s impulses were strong. Too strong. Most cuttle-mer could slow their breathing, use their tentacles to cover and hide their electrical impulses. But not Tony.

 _Fuck_. He almost had the seal cracked, but they were making him nervous and it was hard to concentrate.

Rumlow drifted down, wrapped strong arms around Tony and licked at his ear. “Hurry up, tasty little morsel, before I forget that I promised you protection.”

Ug. _Yuck_. Tony resisted the urge to wipe his ear. Just… another… “What’s in here, anyway?”

“Nothing you need to worry about, just open it.”

Tony wasn’t stupid; he was pretty sure cuttlefish was on the menu, regardless. But he was waiting for his moment. There was always a moment. He’d already picked a spot to hide, defensible and one one way in.

“Yeah, hand me that lever,” Tony said.

“The what?”

God, some mer were so stupid; “What, you’re not a tool using mammal, Rumlow? That-- narrow bone-looking thing there. No, not that, that’ll snap in a second, next to it on the left. Your _other_ left.”

At least Rumlow wouldn’t see it coming.

“Now, when I pull, I want you to slide the tip into the opening, and then press this end down. Trust me, I’m the one who knows human shit. It’ll pop right open. Ready… now.”

There was a sudden burst of air bubbles as the container was cracked, at last. Tony took the opportunity to flee, hiding under the downed boat’s propeller.

Tony cowered behind the metal as whatever was in that container decided it wasn’t pleased.

A huge fucking mershark, nearly twice the size of the mer-orca, burst out, teeth flashing.

“Longing,” Rumlow spat out and the mershark -- some bastard abomination between great white and mer and machinery -- hesitated, then his eyes went dull.

“You get ‘im, Rummie,” one of the mersharks said. “Control words, built into that man-made fin, pretty awesome, yeah? We’ll have the Winter Shark on our side, boys! The ocean is ours!”

“Rusted. Furnace. Daybreak.”

With each word that Rumlow said, the shark shivered, winced, pulling at his own hair, tearing at his own skin, but wrapped in invisible chains that the mershark couldn’t break.

Tony grabbed the nearest thing he could find. _Oooh_ , harpoon gun, that was useful. He snatched up a handful of sand and started working it into the gears to strip the rust.

“Seventeen. Benign.”

The mershark was whimpering, clutching at his head. “No, no, no.”

“Nine. Homecoming. One.”

Tony didn’t know how many more words there were, but something told him he was almost out of time.

“Man, shut the hell up,” he spat, turning the gun toward Rumlow and pulling the trigger. The harpoon ejected violently from the gun. Rumlow screamed, sudden and the water went dark with blood.

Jackpot. The churning water, scent of blood, and the other sharks were thrown into a frenzy.

The great white remained where he was, dizzy with lack of air. Shit, shit, sharks had to keep moving to breathe.

“Come on, this way,” Tony beckoned to it, but got no response. He swore some more, then grabbed a length of chain. He was going to die, he was going to die, this was so stupid, he should just swim away. He looped the chain around the great white, loose, and started hauling him away from the feeding frenzy, trying to ignore the bloody chunks of shark and orca tossing in the water. Yuck, yuck, yuck.

“Come on, nice shark. Pretty shark,” Tony crooned. “You don’t want that food, that’s bad food. You are what you eat and they’re--”

“Hydra,” the great white said.

“What?”

“They’re Hydra.” The great white circled Tony, swimming on his own, now. That wasn’t the least bit nerve-wracking, no not at all.

“Okay.” That didn’t make sense to Tony, but he felt that agreement was the better part of not getting eaten today.

“You saved me,” the shark said.

“Um, yeah,” Tony said. “I don’t suppose that puts me in the list of things that don’t become lunch, does it?”

The shark circled again. “You don’t swim very fast, do you?”

“I do okay,” Tony said. “Better at hiding, though.”

The shark nodded. “Look, Rumlow’s winning that fight. We should go. Before he uses my control words.”

“How does that work?”

“Men,” the shark said, bleak. “Men always meddle.”

“I see. Maybe, maybe I can help with that. I’m pretty good with man-things.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.”

“You got a name, cuttlefish?”

“Tony.”

“I’m Bucky. Grab on, let’s get to safer waters.”

Tony shrugged, used his tentacles to grab hold of Bucky dorsal fin. Maybe he’d still end up being lunch, but maybe not. Bucky seemed… trustworthy, for a shark. Besides, even if he ended up being dangerous, Tony could wait for his moment.

There was always a moment.

 


End file.
